News Mississippi

Grill safety stressed with warmer temps

The skies are clear, the days are warm, and the grill is being dusted off after a long off-season.

Grills are slowly regaining their place as the summer staple, and Memorial Day is known as the kick-off for summer, and the season of grilling.

Unfortunately, the season has another name with first responders.

“We often call it trauma season,” said Jim Pollard with AMR.

Burns are the most commonly reported injury when the grills start coming out, but Pollard said there are preventative measures that could be taken to avoid a trip to the emergency room.

“Also check out the hose connections between the bottle of gas and the grill,” said Pollard. “And if you can, get a professional to check out the whole system.”

Pollard said this could prevent unexpected flare-ups when the grill is turned on for the first time.

Maintenance isn’t the only thing that can cause a perfect storm of events that lead to a fire. Often, kids can get too close, potentially knocking the grill over.

“What we do is we’ll tell people to mark off a ten foot radius around the grill,” said Pollard. “That area should be level, and be named a kid-free zone.”

Ryan Wilson is also with AMR, and says cooking habits can also lead to severe burns.

“People putting too much lighter fluid, or the fire is going out or appears to be going out, so people apply a little extra,” said Wilson. “That leads to flashback–the fire will often follow the stream back to the bottle and you end up with a lot of issues and a lot of burns.”